Croydon parents and residents running grassroots community groups to stop further spikes in youth violence say they need better access to go into schools to get to the core of the issue.

Another Night of Sisterhood (ANOS) and LIONS have both been set up in the last year by people living in the borough passionate about addressing the social issues behind young black men carrying knives and committing serious crimes.

Donna Turner-Murray, a director of ANOS, said the group has faced issues getting into classrooms - mainly at academies - to speak to pupils and parents.

She told a public meeting on Monday: "We need to get into schools. This is way beyond borough level this has to come from central government.

"They have to bring pressure to bear on schools predominately on academies as in Croydon, we are ruled in academies. We have to have access to schools before things will change."

Michael Williams, a director of LIONS, said: "We want to hear what the children have to say, what better place than to do it in a school where you have them there with the parents permission and also with the headteacher and we can deal with the issues they are facing and let them talk among themselves.

"Some schools we have gone and seen and given details and were promised a phone call and there wasn't any phone call. They didn't want the stigma. They didn't want it to look like they weren't in control so they tried to give me the run around and brush you off.

"Especially the academies, I'm not going to name them, but I found that they did that because they want to have this squeaky clean reputation.

"We've had to intercept the children outside of the school but we are still trying to get into the schools."

Other barriers some community groups face is getting the enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, Donna said, who set up ANOS after being horrified at a near-fatal stabbing in Poplar Walk in Croydon town centre in February, one of a spike in stabbing offences earlier this year.

She also called for a constructive referral system between themselves and public authorities, as well as ensuring what they are doing is sustainable, and not just "another bit of paper".

The meeting was also attended by Croydon Central MP Sarah Jones, parents of a teenager who was stabbed in Norbury, Chantelle and Jeff Burland and the police borough commander Jeff Boothe, who is working closely with ANOS and LIONS, recognising the work they do as key to tackling the issue of serious youth violence.

Croydon Council's youth services been cut the borough in the last five years and councillor Alisa Flemming, cabinet member for children young people and learning, said the council's support for ANOS and LIONS is "real and genuine".

She said: "We've seen the work you've done and the difference it makes and the local authority is committed."

Before pledging to support the two groups, council deputy leader Stuart Collins said about a recent Croydon Council Youth Congress, which pointed out employment opportunities as the top priority for young people, said: "I think the youth congress was fantastic but the thing I learnt tonight is that we got through to the fluffy kids and we didn't get through to the kids that we need to.

"We would save so much more money if we spend money supporting voluntary organisations like yourself in the first place because every time a child or a young person gets involved in a crime, that's money in the courts wasted, there's money wasted all along the chain that is far greater than the money if we invested £5 million in a year in every borough supporting voluntary groups like yourselves."

*Over the coming weeks we will be writing about different aspects of serious youth violence and knife crime within Croydon, including analysing cuts to youth services in the borough. We want to know your views. Have you, your child or someone you know been involved in knife crime either as a victim or a perpetrator ? Email your views to samantha.booth@croydonadvertiser.co.uk